geosc11 - 1. Sometimes, science and religion come into...

1. Sometimes, science and religion come into conflict. This is because: A. Science and religion can coexist just fine with a little effort, but sometimes choose not to do so. B. Science and religion must disagree. Pope John Paul II said that the Catholic Church has no problem with evolution, and Baptist Jimmy Carter also supported evolution, so it is clear that religion and science can agree. Points Earned: 1/1 Correct Answer: A Your Response: A 2. There are many large mammals on Earth today. This is because: A. The warm blood of the many large mammals that lived before the meteorite impact allowed them to survive the cold from the meteorite impact that killed the dinosaurs. B. Small mammals were not able to outcompete the dinosaurs for big-animal jobs, but after the dinosaurs were killed, some large mammals evolved from small mammals to fill the large-animal jobs. C. The very large mammals that were alive on Earth with the dinosaurs have gotten smaller over time because the mammals don't have to be big to compete with the dinosaurs any more. D. Dinosaurs in hibernation were killed by acid rain, which didn't hurt things that could run away. E. Small mammals wanted to become bigger, and after the dinosaurs were killed, the small mammals had their chance and so made themselves bigger.

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There are “big-animal” jobs—eating tall trees, eating smaller animals, etc. But the total number of big-animal jobs is limited. The dinosaurs filled the big-animal jobs before mammals really got going, and mammals were not able to displace the dinosaurs. Some small mammals survived the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs, and then evolved to give big mammals over millions of years and longer. There were almost no big mammals before the dinosaurs were killed off, volition has nothing to do with evolution, and running away doesn’t avoid acid rain. Points Earned: 0/1 Correct Answer: B Your Response: A 3. Considering long-term averages, and assuming that we don’t deploy space-based defenses against incoming meteorites, a reasonable estimate of the chance of an average U.S. citizen being killed by the effects of a meteorite or comet impact is that this risk is about the same as the chance of being killed by: A. Crash of a commercial airplane. B. A dinosaur stampede. C. The various diseases that come from smoking, overeating and under-exercising for a long time. D. Choking on a Diet Pepsi can. E. Crash of a car. Nobody that we know eats Pepsi cans, and while there are still meteorites in the solar system that can hit and kill, there are no dinosaurs left except on “The Flintstones”. A reputable study found that a meteorite impact might not occur for millions of years (or might occur next year…) but then might kill billions of people; plane crashes usually kill a few to a few hundred each year. Add up the deaths over a sufficiently long time, and plane crashes and meteorite impacts likely

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